I understand that the Oasis of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world and Rihanna was on hand to perform and christen the ship for its maiden voyage … but I cannot get over Ri Ri’s yellow outfit … it really does look like a superhero’s costume. She rocks it right tho. I’m certain Royal Caribbean paid Rihanna quite a pretty penny to perform on their new ship so I guess we can forgive her for agreeing to play a concert on a cruise ship. After all, a girl’s gotta make a living.

[Photo credit: INFdaily]

This music video is set to officially premiere on ABC’s 20/20 tonight but, well, you know how things work on the Internets. After the jump, check out the video for Russian Roulette in full …

During her interview with Diane Sawyer, Rihanna revealed that she finally walked away from her relationship with Chris Brown after briefly reuniting because she wanted to set a positive example for her fans. The singer said she didn’t want young girls to think it was OK to return to an abusive situation. But Rihanna also said she doesn’t want to be the “domestic-violence spokesperson,” because Brown’s assault is only one aspect of her story. “One of the big things for me, I always want to help young women and give them insight into life experiences,” she told MTV News on Monday (November 9). “One of those things is going through an abusive relationship like I did. But that’s one thing for me. So I don’t want to be the big domestic-violence spokesperson, because that doesn’t define who I am. But if I can help young women in any way, and that being one of the things they need help with, then I’ll do that.” Rihanna is attempting to move forward following the February assault, when Brown left her battered and bruised in his rented Lamborghini after a pre-Grammy party. He eventually struck a plea deal and was sentenced to 180 days of community labor, weekly therapy sessions and five years’ probation. Brown has already conducted a handful of interviews, including MTV News’ “Chris Brown: The Interview” on Friday. But Rihanna didn’t break her silence until last week’s sit-down with Sawyer. “It was the biggest weight lifted off my chest,” she told MTV News. “If you watch the interview, you see it was a subject that I didn’t talk about for the eight months that I didn’t talk about it, so that was my first real time opening up. I had a lot of tension bottled up. So when I finally spoke about it, it felt really good. More importantly, it felt good that people got something positive out of it, because it’s devastating. It’s not fun to talk about or listen to, but there are a lot of women who are going through it, a lot of teenagers who are scared to talk about it. So I thought it was a good thing that I can be that voice for them and help them get out of that situation.”

I am so happy that Rihanna is feeling relief after opening up about her abuse. I cannot imagine what it must feel like first, to endure something like that and second, to feel the pressure from others to share. I am glad that she is sharing tho, as I’ve said before … her message is one that could greatly benefit other people who may be in her same abusive situation. After the jump, watch Rihanna’s MTV interview in full …

Rihanna — “I Always Want To Help Young Women”:

In a tremendously moving and articulate interview with 20/20, Rihanna gave her first full-length statements about her assault by Chris Brown in February. Describing the beating she suffered in a car with Brown, the singer said that when he beat her, “He had no soul in his eyes… It was almost like he had nothing to lose.” Speaking to Diane Sawyer, Rihanna said of Brown’s remorse afterward, “He’d say, ‘You hate me, don’t you?’ and I would lie and say, ‘No.’” That was a chilling moment, one among many. Sawyer showed Rihanna online videos of people — fans? — saying that she must have provoked Brown. Sawyer paraphrased their sentiments: “They say, ‘Did she bait him? Rile him?’” Rihanna said bluntly of such questions, “It’s ignorance.” Demonstrating a maturity and thoughtfulness about her experience, Rihanna noted, “With fame comes a lot of things, and the most dangerous is freedom… no boundaries.” At the same time, she said that when she’s shown the pictures of her battered face from that night, “I get very ashamed, angry… embarrassed… You start lying to yourself, blaming yourself… I didn’t want people looking at me. I felt really lonely.” She claimed never to have heard the song Brown supposedly recorded for her called “Changed Man.” When Sawyer showed her the internet apology Brown issued and asked the singer’s reaction, Rihanna said simply, “It sounds like he might be reading off a teleprompter… I don’t know if he understood the extent of what he did.” Rihanna explained the fight’s source: ”I caught him in a lie,” when she saw a text message from another woman. “I wouldn’t drop it, and he couldn’t take that.” She described their love as “dangerous… It was a bit of an obsession.” The awful pressure that is placed upon celebrities to be role models was made clear when she said, “My selfish desire for love could result in some young girl getting killed. I could not be easy with that, responsible for that.” How terrible that this woman should have to bear that weight in addition to what happened to her. That’s one of the biggest flaws of current pop culture — the notion that celebrities must set an example for others. Rihanna went so far as to say to Sawyer, “I’m glad it happened to me, because now I can help young girls when it happens to them.” Sawyer asked if she “hated” Brown. She replied, “I want him to do well, to have a good career… and to grow up.”

I cannot even express how impressed I was with Rihanna’s interview last night … she was thoughtful, sure, honest and bold in her statements. You could tell how uncomfortable she was talking about certain aspects of her ordeal but you could also tell how confident she was that she was doing the right thing. I am so glad that ABC decided to air portions of Rihanna’s interview over two days and one night … the wider her story is spread, the more likely that her message will reach those who desperately need to hear it. After the jump, watch Rihanna’s entire 20/20 interview online …

Rihanna is breaking her silence about the night then-boyfriend Chris Brown beat her, telling Diane Sawyer that he had “no soul in his eyes.” “It wasn’t the same person that says I love you. It was not those… eyes,” she told Sawyer in an exclusive interview. “He had … no soul in his eyes. Just blank. …He was clearly blacked out. There was no person when I looked at him.” The February 2009 assault left the 21-year-old battered and bruised, and Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, community labor, and one year of domestic-violence counseling. “All I kept thinking all the time: When is it going to stop? When it is going to stop?” she said. After the attack, Rihanna briefly reunited with Brown, but said that she never forgave him. “I just said to him, ‘I can’t do this.’ I resented him. I resented him so much. And I always put the tough face on and try to, I can do anything face, and just try to play it off. But he knew. He knew it. He kept asking me, ‘You hate me, don’t you? You hate me,’” she told Sawyer. “And I would lie and I would say, ‘No, no. And … I did hate him. … Everything about him annoyed me. So finally … I just said, we can’t … we can’t do this. I cannot continue to do this.” Before the dramatic incident, the couple’s seemingly fairytale relationship began as a friendship. A 16-year-old Rihanna — with a growing empire of endorsements, fashion spreads, and a bank account in the multi-millions — said she was attracted to 15-year-old Brown’s personality, humor and charm. “We were just friends. We always played. So it was … a good feeling to come out of the adult lifestyle and just, when you’re in your room, just be yourself,” she said of their year-and-a-half-long romance. “He was definitely my first big love.” But the starlet said that the deeper they fell for one another, the darker their relationship became, bordering on an “obsession.” “To fall in love with your best friend it … can be scary because the … the emotions get really, they get the best of you. Like it takes over,” she said. “The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other, equally as dangerous.” Rihanna recounted the details of the “ugly” night, describing how she and Brown got in a heated argument over a text message on Brown’s phone. “I caught him in a lie. And he wouldn’t tell the truth … I was being more annoyed at that point in our relationship he had to lie about something so stupid,” she said. “I couldn’t take that he kept lying to me. And he couldn’t take that I wouldn’t drop it. And … it was ugly.”

Yes, that fateful night got very ugly from there :( After the jump, read more of Rihanna’s interview with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America today and watch video of the popstarlet telling her story, in her own words …

According to the police affidavit, Brown shoved Rihanna into the window of his car, while driving. He punched her several times in the eye and said, “I’m going to beat the shit out of you when we get home.” When Rihanna tried to call her assistant’s phone, Brown warned, “You just did the stupidest thing ever. I’m going to kill you,” and threw her phone out the window. Rihanna confirmed the brutal account, but told Sawyer she knew Brown wouldn’t act on his words. “I know he was saying it to scare me,” she said. Rihanna acknowledged that Brown bit her and had her in a headlock until she had trouble breathing. She told Sawyer that she did not try to fight back. “I fended him off with my feet from one … side of the car, but … it was not like, it was not like a fight with each other. I just … I really just wanted it to stop,” she said. Her screams prompted someone to call 911 and report the disturbance to the Los Angeles Police Department. Rihanna told Sawyer that, by that point, she was “battered.” “I was bleeding. I was swollen in my face,” she said. “So there was no way of me getting home, except for, my next option was to get out of the car and walk. Start walking in a gown, in a bloody face. So I really don’t know what my plan was. I didn’t have a plan. That whole night was not part of my plan.”

The star, who has sold 15 million albums, — is back after a nine-month hiatus with a new single, “Russian Roulette,” from her highly-anticipated album “Rated R” to be released later this month. “I feel when I look back on the four years, I feel like I’ve grown so much … in such a short space of time and achieved a lot,” she said. “I’m blessed.” The singer told Sawyer that she is not dating anyone now and can’t imagine getting back together with Brown. “I don’t have a desire at all to be with him,” she said. “… I can’t see how we … would get back together, but I’m also not God and I can’t predict the future.” Rihanna decided to speak publicly about the incident to warn others who may be in danger of returning to abuse. “I knew I had to do this in order to move on for me and in order for my fans to move on with me because it would always be a question in their mind,” she said. “I don’t want that five years from now every time they see Rihanna, they think of Chris Brown beating me. That’s not who I am. It’s just one thing that happened to me.”

I am so glad that Rihanna finally feels strong enough to talk about her assault … we learned yesterday that she was initially embarrassed and today she opened up about the mistakes that she made in the wake of her assault (I was among the shocked fans who could not believe that she would go back to him after he so brutally beat her) but it sounds like she has finally gotten to a place where her strength has given her the ability not only to speak out but to move on. I absolutely applaud her decision to speak out about this horrible incident.

Here is video of Rihanna’s appearance on Good Morning America earlier today:

Pop sensation Rihanna is speaking out about the night her then-boyfriend Chris Brown beat her, saying it was “humiliating” and “traumatizing” to admit the assault took place and that it was “wrong” that she went back to Brown afterwards. “It was a wake-up call. It was a wake-up call for me. Big time,” Rihanna told “Good Morning America’s” Diane Sawyer in her first television interview discussing the assault. “I will say that to any young girl who is going through domestic violence, don’t react off of love. F love. Come out of the situation and look at it in the third person and for what it really is.” The pop star said it was “embarrassing” that Brown was the type of person she fell in love with. “So far in love. So unconditional that I went back. It’s humiliating to say this happened. To accept that? It’s a traumatizing experience,” she said. Her decision to go back to Brown, she said, was a mistake. “I stayed. I even went back after he beat me, which was wrong,” she said. “But again … I’m a human being and people put me on a very unrealistic pedestal. And all these expectations, I’m not perfect.” The 21-year-old star acknowledged that Brown held her in a headlock twice that night and bit her on the ear and fingers. After months of silence since the February beating, Rihanna decided to speak publicly about the ordeal so she can be a voice to help others who may be in danger of returning to abuse. “It’s completely normal to go back. It’s not right. I learned the hard way, but again, this is what I want people to know,” she said. “When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I couldn’t be held responsible for going back. “Even if Chris never hit me again, who is to say that their boyfriend won’t? Who’s to say that they won’t kill these girls?” she said. “These are young girls and I just didn’t realize how much of an impact I had on these girls’ lives until that happened.” After a nine-month hiatus, Rihanna is back on the music scene with a new hit album, “Rated R,” signaling a return from a time of intense loneliness following the assault. “One of the most lonely times I’ve been was in the past few months because nobody understands what it’s like,” she said. “There are a lot of women who’ve experienced what I did, but not in the public. So it made it really difficult. I just felt like, ‘Oh my God, here it goes, my little bit of privacy.’” In August, Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, six months of community service and one year of domestic violence counseling for assaulting the 21-year-old pop singer the night before the Grammy Awards. Portions of ABC News’ exclusive interview with Rihanna will air on “Good Morning America” at 7 a.m. E.T. Thursday, Nov. 5. Her full interview will air on “20/20″ at 10 p.m. E.T. Friday, Nov. 6.

So many people are so divided on Rihanna’s decision to speak out … hell, people are so divided on the issue of domestic abuse. I personally feel that any time, no matter the circumstance, a person decides to open up publicly to talk about the abuse they endured at the hands of another person is the right time to do so. It is not anyone’s place to put time limits on when someone should open up, it’s not anyone’s place to question the reasoning or to immediately assume there is an ulterior motive … I can’t even begin to fully understand the emotional impact an abused person feels when they are finally ready to talk about their abuse. I fully expect the detractors will have more negative things to say about this new interview but if Rihanna’s message is heard by just one person who learns from that message and saves themselves from an abusive situation then all of this is very much worth it. After the jump, watch video of Rihanna’s interview on Good Morning America and hear her message from her own lips …

A written excerpt of Rihanna telling her side of story regarding the domestic violence done by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown has been unveiled. Sporting a new hairstyle, the Barbadian singer will do a one-on-one interview with Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America” this Thursday, November 5. “This happened to me. … It can happen to anyone,” Rihanna said in answer to one of Sawyer’s questions. She later on admitted that Chris was indeed her “first big love”, the fact that made the whole coping up situation difficult. The interview will also be aired as part of news magazine, “20/20″ on Friday night. This would be the first time for Rihanna to talk about the battery case on national television. Chris has come forward first on “Larry King Live” to address the incident including why he was violent and what was his reaction upon seeing Rihanna’s bloody picture that was leaked few days after the February case. Rihanna will make a return to “Good Morning America” on November 23 for a performance that celebrates the release of her latest album “Rated R” that day. But she will first debut her new music video for the single “Wait Your Turn” on “20/20″ on Tuesday, November 3.

Well, actually, Rihanna already debuted her music video for Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova) online cuz we got to see it in full yesterday. I am very curious to see these interviews with Rihanna … it’s one thing to read what she has to say but quite another to hear her speak. I will deffo be tuning in to watch her on both Good Morning America and 20/20. It cannot be easy to talk about issues of domestic abuse on such a public stage … I do hope that her message that it could happen to anyone will resonate with other people out there in her same situation.

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Months after being attacked by ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, Rihanna is speaking out about her healing process in December issue of Glamour magazine. “My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see,” she says. “They have followed every step of my recovery. “The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that. I want to give as much insight as I can to young women, because I feel like I represent a voice that really isn’t heard. Now I can help speak for those women.” Named Glamour’s 2009 Woman of the Year, Rihanna, 21, will be honored in a special ceremony at New York’s Carnegie Hall on Nov. 9. In addition to opening up about her difficult year, the singer – and fashionista – will also appear in a pictorial spread, wearing clothing by Balmain, Gucci and Jason Wu. As for the massive scrutiny following the February 2009 attack, Rihanna says, “I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. That was the level of media chaos that happened the next day.” And, she says, the past nine months have been a source of growth and strength. “I am stronger, wiser and more aware. You don’t realize how much your decisions affect people you don’t even know, like fans.” The singer has already released the power ballad “Russian Roulette” off her fourth album, Rated R, due in stores Nov. 23. “I’ve put everything I’ve wanted to say for the past eight months into my music,” she says. “[It's] super fearless – which is exactly how I feel right now. I am in a really good place.”

Rihanna’s interview is much more substantive than is presented here. After the jump, check out a few photos from her Glamour photospread and read a few more quotes form this powerful coverstory …

Glamour: Let’s talk about this past year—you’ve obviously been through some difficult things. How did the people around you help you cope?
Rihanna: My friends and family have been extremely supportive, and everyone has been there for me. But at some point you are there alone. It’s a lonely place to be—no one can understand. That’s when you get close to God.

Glamour: I think that’s a great message. What about your new album? What’s it like?
Rihanna: I was involved in a lot of the writing. I put everything I’ve wanted to say for the past eight months into my music. The songs are really personal. It’s rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s really hip-hop: If Lil’ Wayne and Kings of Leon like my album, then I’ll feel good. I would not change anything about it. Even if people don’t love it, I made exactly the piece of art that I wanted to make. It’s super fearless—which is exactly how I feel right now. I am in a really good place.

Click HERE to read the entire online version of this interview. It’s an extremely interesting read … particularly because of how open Rihanna is thruout. Later on this week, Ri Ri will be featured on Good Morning America and then 20/20 on ABC to talk more about her life in the past 9 months … starting with the incident where Chris Brown brutally beat her. It cannot be easy but I do commend her for talking about this incident … mebbe her experience will help others avoid an assault like the one she endured.

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The video is not bad … the song is another slow jam but I like it much better than Russian Roulette. Check it out after the jump and judge for yourselves …

You’ve probably seen Rihanna’s racy single cover, and now PopEater is proud to exclusively premiere the cover for her impending album, ‘Rated R.’ The grainy black-and-white cover shows the R&B queen draped in hand jewelry and covering one eye. The album, which is set to be released on Monday, Nov. 23, is Rihanna’s first album since 2007’s ‘Good Girl Gone Bad.’ It is also Rihanna’s first album since she was assaulted by boyfriend Chris Brown in February. The ‘Rated R’ cover was shot by famed photographer Ellen von Unwerth, who says that “Rihanna was looking to create something a bit new for the look of the album.” Von Unwerth goes on to say that Rihanna is “so beautiful, sweet and tough at the same time — and a pleasure to shoot,” adding that she’s “fantastic to work with — very giving, very creative, very involved in every aspect of the shoot, and ready to push the boundaries.”

As far as album covers go, this is one ain’t too shabby. The look of the photo reminds me of the photospread Ri Ri did for Italian Vogue over the Summer. To be honest, I expected the album artwork to be more racy … I like that it’s kinda understated. I’m SO dying to hear this album tho … the photos are nice and all but it’s all about the music. I can’t wait to hear more from Rated R. As far as the coverphoto goes, tho, what do y’all think … do you like?

[Source]